The singer is Malcolm R. MacLeod of Sydney. This song has become the Gaelic anthem of Cape Breton; it was composed by Dan Alex MacDonald from Framboise. A longer twelve-verse version of the song is published in Gaelic Songs of Nova Scotia, by Helen Creighton and Calum MacLeod (1964).

Oran Do Cheap Breatainn was recorded by Malcolm R. MacLeod on a Celtic Label 78rpm which was numbered #023 in that series. It was the flip side of a record which had another popular Gaelic tune entitled O Teannaibh Dluth Is Togaibh Fonn on the opposite side. Celtic Label 78s were recorded in Montreal at this point in time. Malcolm R. also recorded a number of disks on the Victor Label.

He was from Sterling, Cape Breton where the MacLeod family homestead lay near the site of the famous Sterling Mine. For a time, he made his living selling cream separators and tombstones, the latter manufactured by a company which used to advertise in the old Family Herald magazine.